If unemployment above 14 percent in some regions and a one out of 10 Floridians on food stamps isn’t bad enough, now unscrupulous spammers have launched stimulus scams on unsuspecting web surfers.

Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles Bronson issued an alert today warning Floridians about Internet ploys involving federal stimulus money.

One of the scams sent by e-mail promises grant dollars and asks consumers to provide their bank account number and other personal information that could result in identity theft, Bronson cautioned.

Another swindle asks consumers to pay an up-front fee for a grant or list of available grants.

“It’s clear that criminals are preying on the public’s desperation and using the stimulus plan to con people out of their hard-earned money,” Bronson said in a press release. “They should just delete these emails as quickly as possible and understand that the federal government is not providing stimulus money over the Internet.”

There is no charge to apply for grants and information about them is free.

Potential victims should contact the Federal Trade Commission online at http://www.FTC.gov or by telephone at 1-877-382-4357.

Tags: stimulus, unemployment

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 10th, 2009 at 9:43 am and is filed under stimulus. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.